█

AI/TLDR

Buy me a coffee
Buy me a coffee
PROMOTE YOUR WEBSITE IN JUST $20

Model comparison

Mistral Small 4 vs DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale

Mistral AIMistral Small 4
Input
$0.15 / 1M tokens
Output
$0.60 / 1M tokens
Context
256K
Released
2026-03-16
Full model page →DeepSeekDeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale
Input
$0.28 / 1M tokens (cache miss)
Output
$0.42 / 1M tokens
Context
128K
Released
2025-12-01
Full model page →
Short answer

DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale scores higher on 3 of the 3 benchmarks both models report; Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on input tokens ($0.2 vs $0.3 per 1M, 1.9×); Mistral Small 4 has the larger context window (256K vs 128K).

Specs and pricing side by side

SpecMistral Small 4DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale
MakerMistral AIDeepSeek
Released2026-03-162025-12-01
Context window256K128K
Max outputnot published128K
Input price$0.15 / 1M tokens$0.28 / 1M tokens (cache miss)
Output price$0.60 / 1M tokens$0.42 / 1M tokens
Parameters119B total / 6.5B active (MoE)671B total / 37B active (MoE)
LicenseApache 2.0MIT
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weightssame
ModalitiesText, VisionText
Knowledge cutoffNot disclosedNot disclosedsame

Benchmarks both models report

BenchmarkMistral Small 4DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale
GPQA Diamond71.2%85.7%
AIME 202593%96%
LiveCodeBench64%88.7%

Scores are as published by each maker or its cited source; harness, reasoning effort and date can differ between rows, so treat small gaps as ties. Sources are listed on each model page.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Mistral Small 4 if…

  • Cost matters: input tokens cost 1.9× less ($0.2 vs $0.3 per 1M).
  • You need the longer context (256K vs 128K).
  • You need Vision input, which DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale lacks.
  • Your use case is: self-hosted assistants and agents where an open, commercially-usable license matters.

Pick DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale if…

  • You care about GPQA Diamond, AIME 2025, LiveCodeBench (it scores higher on 3 shared benchmarks).
  • Your use case is: solving competition-grade mathematics and writing formal mathematical proofs.

FAQ

Which is better, Mistral Small 4 or DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale?

DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale scores higher on 3 of the 3 benchmarks both models report; Mistral Small 4 is cheaper on input tokens ($0.2 vs $0.3 per 1M, 1.9×); Mistral Small 4 has the larger context window (256K vs 128K). The better pick depends on whether you value benchmark scores, price per token, context length or openness for your workload.

How much cheaper is Mistral Small 4?

Mistral Small 4: $0.15 / 1M tokens input, $0.60 / 1M tokens output. DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale: $0.28 / 1M tokens (cache miss) input, $0.42 / 1M tokens output (list API prices as published by each maker).

What are the context windows of Mistral Small 4 and DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale?

Mistral Small 4 offers 256K; DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale offers 128K with up to 128K output.

Is Mistral Small 4 newer than DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale?

Mistral Small 4 was released 2026-03-16; DeepSeek-V3.2-Speciale was released 2025-12-01.

Go deeper